This invention relates in general to binding a range of sizes of leaves of many materials so that they can be carried and dissembled with ease, and in particular to bind papers, reports etc.
Documents are presently bound with a large number of plastic or metal finger brackets or are spiral bound. Some reports are bound with a variety of clips, from paper clips with removable handles, metal binder clips, staples, and other methods that do not require punching holes in the paper. Ring binders are round or "D" shaped attached to a metal spine. Some ring binders have "double lock" rings that stay locked and aligned--a three position trigger opens, unlocks and locks the rings. Plastic "GBC" (industry name) ring binders are multistrips used to fasten to specially punched paper. Flexible metal prongs are folded over in covers to attached punched paper and are filled with leaves. Accordion (typically reinforced) folded edges can be used to expand the report as papers are added. Covers have paper holding pockets on top and bottom flaps. Architectural and Engineering drawings are bound with staples, edge binders, metal screw attached plate clamps and other devices. Clip boards are fitted with a "single line contact" spring activated clamp. Leaves of other materials such as carpet samples, wall paper samples, floor covering samples, etc. are fastened together by metal fasteners, clamps etc. that are not easily assembled and disassembled. These temporary binding means are troublesome, with pinching fingers, need to punch holes, difficulty of updating materials, and papers falling out.
Permanent bookbinding, the process by which individual leaves or folded sheets are combined into one volume, is expensive and inconvenient in updating materials. Bookbinding has evolved from early costly methods when owners commissioned fine hand bindings to protect and embellish writings. The first bookbindings, made in Coptic Egyptian monasteries about the second century, were leather-covered boards tied with thongs that enclosed sewn gatherings of sheets of papyrus. Later, in the East, bindings continued to be light containers, made of leather or pasteboard, glued to sewn sheets of paper. Some Islamic folding-leather book covers were richly decorated with stamped or tooled ornament, blind or in gold leaf.
Presently, paper and other laminate binding is an encumbered process and requires much "filing" time with exhaustive preparation of paper and laminates for binding. Bookbinding on a commercial scale is a highly mechanized process requiring many types of machines. For hard cover books, flat printed sheets are first folded by machine into signatures, or units, of 16, 32, or 64 pages. They are then forwarded to a gathering machine, which collates the signatures in proper sequence into complete sets. These sets are sewed together on sewing machines. Trade books are sewed through the centerfold. Books subject to hard use, such as textbooks, are side stitched, along the side close to the back. Sidestitching makes a book harder to tear but also more difficult to keep open. Sewing is now frequently eliminated by the use of adhesive binding in which the backs of the gathered signatures are sliced off and all leaves simultaneously glued to a strip of cheesecloth or paper. The resulting book, although not as sturdy as one that is sewed, is strong enough and much less expensive to produce.
In addition to hardcover binding, paper binding and mechanical binding are also employed. Paperback books, which usually have adhesive binding instead of sewn binding, include works of short lifespan, such as popular novels, telephone directories, and mail-order catalogs. Books with mechanical binding heretofore were held together by spiral wires, rings, or snaps passing through holes punched in the leaves and the cover.
The proposed invention greatly facilitates binding; no holes are required in the leaves; and no special document preparation is required, facilitating easy assembly of papers with the capability to often "conveniently" add and remove papers.